


Christmas Eve Surprises

by afteriwake



Series: Deserving [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-13
Updated: 2013-02-13
Packaged: 2017-11-29 04:37:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/682853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lestrade is working Christmas Eve when Molly stops by with a surprise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Christmas Eve Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the sherlockmas Afterglow Fest with the prompt "Lestrade's stuck working the night shift on Christmas Eve, Molly brings him dinner."

The first date had gone splendidly, and they’d immediately made plans for a second. When that one went well, they planned for a third. However, the third date coincided with the Christmas season, and with everyone else at both their jobs wanting Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to spend with those they cared about, both Lestrade and Molly ended up getting stuck with an undesirable shift: Lestrade got the night shift on Christmas Eve and Molly got the day shift on Christmas Day. Lestrade was at a nearly empty Scotland Yard with Donovan, who’d had a row with Anderson and was grabbing all the holiday shifts she could in order to avoid their plans. Sadly she couldn’t just cover his shift so he could spend time away from the office, but at least she could be good company when Sherlock wasn’t around. The two of them had been sitting in his office, sipping coffee to get through the night and munching on Christmas cookies some of the day shift had left for them.

“I feel like I’m going to get fat, nibbling on all these cookies,” Donovan said as she picked up her fifth in the last half hour.

“Probably,” Lestrade said with a wicked grin. Donovan glared at him and picked up a broken gingerbread man with her other hand, tossing it at him. “Sally, how many cookies have you had since you came into my office?”

“I lost count,” she said, nibbling on the almond shortbread she had originally picked up. Then she sighed. “Why do men have to be such idiots? Present company excepted, of course.”

“Of course. And it’s probably something in our DNA,” he said, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. “All men do stupid things every once in a while, especially when it comes to women. Has he tried apologizing?”

She shook her head. “He firmly believes he’s right. I know for a fact he’s wrong.”

“What are you two fighting about, anyway?”

“His divorce has been finalized for two years, but he keeps saying he needs to wait to make things official with me, and I’m tired of waiting.” She looked at the cookie. “You know, when we were sneaking around, things were…easier. I didn’t expect anything other than a good shag and maybe some time away from the office. Then his wife left him and he got divorced and I wanted more. Maybe I should have just kept things casual.”

Lestrade looked at her. Having been cheated on he had a whole host of things he thought about the origin of their relationship, none of which was particularly nice, but he liked the both of them, especially Donovan, and he hated seeing her like this. “Well, there are a few things you can do. You can issue an ultimatum, you can walk away, or you can keep waiting.”

“None of those sound really appealing,” she said glumly.

“Do you love him?” he asked. She nodded. “Does he love you?” She nodded again. “Then I’d say wait. But only wait for so long. If it’s making you miserable then it’s not a healthy relationship to be in.”

She smiled at him slightly, just the faintest upturn of her lips, and she opened her lips to reply before her smile widened. “I think you have a guest.” She nodded towards the door and then stood up. “We can talk later.”

Lestrade turned and saw Molly standing nervously at the door, a covered plate in her hands. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said.

“Of course not,” Donovan said with a grin as she got to Molly. “I was just going to get some more coffee. Happy Christmas, Molly.”

“Happy Christmas, Sally,” Molly said with a smile as Sally left the office. She stepped inside and then looked at Lestrade. “I wasn’t sure if you’d had something to eat, and I hated the idea that you’d have to have take-out or something, so I made you a plate.” She moved over to his desk and handed it to him. “I spent the day cooking.”

“Thank you, Molly,” he said as he took the plate. He took the foil off and saw slices of turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetables and a roll. “It smells delicious.”

Her smile widened. “Well, I wanted to be sure I didn’t have to cook tomorrow night. I’m working for twelve hours so I’m going to be exhausted when I get home.”

He whistled slightly as he picked up the fork she’d put on the plate. “Twelve hours, huh? Why such a long shift?”

“No one else wanted to work it, and there’s a backlog. I’ll be doing autopsies all day, I bet. At least I’ll be getting paid extra.”

“That’s good.”

“Well, I should get going,” she said. “I mean, you’re at work and all.”

“Please stay,” he said, pausing in what he was doing and looking at her. “It’s fairly dead around here, and while Sally is good company she has a personal problem right now and I want to talk about something else for a bit. Anything else, really.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her hair.

He nodded. “Very.” “He motioned to the chair Donovan had been sitting in. “There’s cookies, if you want some.”

“All right,” she said with a grin. She sat down and reached over for a chocolate dipped cookie. “How has your evening been?”

“Boring. I’ve only been here for two hours but we haven’t gotten a single call.” He took a bite of his food. “This is really good.”

She blushed slightly. “Thank you.”

He looked at her and grinned. “Have I ever told you that you look fantastic when you blush?”

This only caused her to blush harder. “No.”

“Well, you do.” He went back to his food and took another bite. “I managed to get New Year’s Eve off.”

“Really? Me too,” she said.

“Maybe we could do something that night,” he said.

“I’d like that,” she said with a smile. “Have any ideas?”

“Dinner, maybe. I honestly wouldn’t mind if you cooked, because this is really good food.”

“I could cook,” she said as she nodded. “And maybe we could watch some movies? I think we have similar taste in movies.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” he said. “When do you want to meet?”

“Seven?” she said.

“You’ll have to tell me where you live, but I’ll be there at seven.” He grinned at her. “Hopefully I’ll get to see you again before that, but that would be a nice date to look forward to.”

“Yeah, I think it can be fun.”

He was going to reply when his office phone rang. “Pardon me.” He answered it, and after a few moments hung up with a sigh. “Triple homicide in So Ho. Have to get going.” He reached over for the foil and covered his food again as she stood up. He followed suit, and went over to her. “It was good to see you, and thank you for the food.”

“You’re welcome,” she said with a smile. She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Happy Christmas, Greg.”

He reached over for her and put a hand on her arm. They had been out on two dates and the only thing she had done was kiss his cheek. He wanted something more now, so he moved his arm to her waist and pulled her closer. She was surprised, but when he leaned in and kissed her on the lips she nearly melted against him, and a contented sigh escaped when they were done. “Happy Christmas, Molly,” he said with a grin, not letting her go.

“That was…very very nice,” she said with a wide grin. “We’ll have to do that again soon.”

“Yes, we will,” he said, finally letting her go.

“If I’m up to it, maybe we could meet up tomorrow?” she said, moving towards the door. “Get dinner, if we can find someplace open. I’ll be off at nine.”

“I’d like that,” he said.

“Then maybe I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, Greg.” And with that, she left. He watched her, wide grin on his face. Perhaps this holiday season wouldn’t be so bad after all…


End file.
